Three rescued near Egmont Key

Rescuers found three people July 18 stranded in the water near Egmont Key, the island across the Tampa Bay shipping channel that is visible from the northern tip of Anna Maria Island.

The three people had been adrift on the water for as long as 20 hours, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Members of a St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue team were testing a new boat off Egmont Key last Wednesday morning when they found a man adrift in an inflatable raft. The man, Ronaldo Puig, 40, had been on the water for nearly a day and was dehydrated.

Two others, Craig Platt, 42, and Alysa Platt, 40, of Mill Creek, were found about an hour later drifting in an aluminum jon boat about a mile from were Puig had been found.

St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue reported that the three people had left from Bradenton Beach aboard a jon boat on the evening of July 17.

The 17-foot boat began taking on water near Egmont Key and Puig decided to take the raft and go for help. However, he didn’t have a paddle and didn’t get far.

All three boaters were treated for dehydration at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and then released.

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